Apologies if this has already been done to death, but I did check all the thread titles in the "Words" section and could not find it. It's just a bit of fun - I found myself with that line going round in my head,

"Charlie Christian out playing the saxes ..."

and whilst I now know the correct version (but have just checked the website to make sure!), that is what I thought Pete was singing for quite a lot of the past 35 years or so (until I learned enough about jazz to realise Christian would not have been very likely to be playing saxes, or indeed, even one sax (I think Dick Heckstall-Smith was the only person who managed two simultaneously?) and in any case one would hope he wouldn't be doing it outdoors, poor man, although having just read Richard's notes on Pete's website it would seem that he spent rather too long out in the cold and died tragically young of pneumonia, so maybe my reading of the lyric was not that far out ...)

Of course, "Between us there is nothing but the condom" is more of a would-be misheard lyric than a real one ...

(I think Dick Heckstall-Smith was the only person who managed two simultaneously?)

Aaah, the memories! My period of Mayall-mania (see my non-Atkin top ten) included the time that DHS was in his band, and I remember his dual saxophone wielding vividly from several sweaty gigs in the back rooms of various pubs. However, he was preceded in this feat, and more famously, by Roland Kirk.

I know it's sad replying to one's own post, but I've just realised that for many years (in fact, until about 5 minutes ago) I thought that the previous line ended with "death in taxis".

I really must get my ears seen to.

Jim.

(PS Amazing Coincidence Department: Yesterday, AFTER I'd posted my original message, I heard about a farmer who, asked why he was just standing around in a field, explained that he was hoping to get a Nobel Prize, as he'd heard that they are awarded to people who are "out standing in their field".

Still, I think Pete can take comfort from the fact that there are so few - he must have been singing pretty clearly! (I'm not typical in this - my hearing has always been slightly dodgy - you're looking at a man (if you pardon the expression) who managed to hear the line

"While Lenin read a book on Marx"

from American Pie, as

"While men in red had put gun marks")

However, this business of what the lyrics actually were raises an interesting question. Borrowing a comment from another thread, I cannot distinguish between "our lost love" and "our lost loves" in the line at the end of Payday Evening, and as was pointed out by someone on that thread, these two slightly different versions have very different meanings.

So doesn't that mean that the song is in some way bigger than anything that Pete or Clive originally put into it, being interpreted in ways that may not have been intended, but are equally valid?

There was a lively discussion in the last months of the old mailing list on the subject of authorial intention v listener's interpretation. I seem to remember it was finally generally agreed that what the song / poem / whatever means to you is what really counts, and is as valid as what the author intended. And, of course, as you say, the more interpretations, the "deeper" we may consider the piece to be.

<<However, this business of what the lyrics actually were raises an interesting question. Borrowing a comment from another thread, I cannot distinguish between "our lost love" and "our lost loves" in the line at the end of Payday Evening, and as was pointed out by someone on that thread, these two slightly different versions have very different meanings. >>

The words on the lyrics insert in the original album sleeve are quite clear: it's "loves" and not "love." Naturally, since "love" doesn't rhyme (except half-heartedly) with "dove's" and Clive is very strict about this sort of thing. All power to his elbow, I say.

I'd always thought this was - from the context - "While Lennon read a book on Marx". The previous sequence is about Bob Dylan, apparently (because of the 'rolling stone' reference) but could also be about Mick Jagger - for the same reason.

Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles. (Of course, he could be referring to Groucho Marx, but that doesn't seem quite consistent with McLean's overall tone. On the other hand, some of the wordplay in Lennon's lyrics and books is reminiscint of Groucho.) The "Marx-Lennon" wordplay has also been used by others, most notably the Firesign Theatre on the cover of their album "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?". Also, a famous French witticism was "Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho."; "I'm a Marxist of the Groucho variety".>>